Mirror, Mirror
by You're-Not-So-Big
Summary: Continuation of Cordria's Nova Shot, Mirror, Mirror. In which Maddie must solve the mystery of two identical Dannys. Which boy is the real Danny Fenton?
1. Chapter 1

**Mirror, Mirror  
**A Danny Phantom FanFiction

* * *

It was a calm, perfect day – no darkness, no storms, and most definitely no night. More specifically, it was one of those perfect afternoons where nothing seems to be able to go wrong. Everything makes sense and everything just _works_.

Maddie Fenton, dressed in her normal blue jumpsuit, was sitting at her 'home office' (otherwise known as her kitchen table), feet up, a manila folder seated in her lap. Two grainy pictures were the objects of her intense scrutiny. One was a half-hearted, amateur attempt at getting a picture of something 'paranormal' for the newspaper, the other was a still from a local security camera. Both needed to be authenticated before they could go out and either make the news or be used in small claims court.

With nobody else in the house, Maddie was enjoying the total silence. Both of her children were at school and her third child (the larger, older one she'd chosen to marry) had been shooed off to the store an hour previously with a list he was, no doubt, ignoring. Locked in her own house and left to her own devices, she'd spread her work out on the kitchen table and settled down to get a lot done.

When the phone suddenly rang, shattering the welcome quiet, Maddie jumped a little in surprise. Then, laughing softly to herself and in no way realizing the importance of the upcoming phone call, she reached over and snagged the phone. Still gazing down at her pictures, she said, "Fentonworks, Maddie speaking."

The male voice on the line had a distinct western drawl, tinged with a lazy, distracted feel. "Hello, Ma'am. I'm calling from the San Francisco Police Department. I'm trying to locate the parent and/or guardian of Daniel Fenton."

Maddie sat up, setting her pictures onto the table to give the phone her complete attention. "I'm Maddie Fenton, Danny's mother."

"My name's Officer Grisby," the man drawled. "A youth matching your son's description was picked up about an hour ago for trespassing on government property. Refused to give any name other than 'Danny.'"

"San Francisco?" Maddie said, confused, as she tried to figure out how many _hours_ (if not days) it would take to travel to that city. "I live in Michigan… that can't be my son."

"Yes, I'm aware of where you live. However, we ran his fingerprints through the system and they match your son's."

Blinking, Maddie took the phone away from her ear to stare at it, as if looking at the phone would help make sense of what the man was saying. "_My _Danny."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"San Francisco."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"_California_."

The man sounded a little annoyed as he said, "Yes, Ma'am."

Maddie could feel the backs of her eyes start to hurt. "Danny ate breakfast with me this morning, then went to school. He's not in California."

"Fingerprints don't lie, Ma'am." The man's voice sounded tired of answering all her denials. "We even double checked it against the photo in his records – it's your son sitting in our holding cell. We'll need a parent, guardian, or an adult over the age of twenty-one to come pick him up. The White facility isn't choosing to press charges, so he's free to go."

Maddie looked around her kitchen in disbelief, letting out a deep breath. "I still don't…"

"I know it doesn't seem to make sense, but it is your son. Now, when we can we expect someone?" the man said, obviously tired of keeping up the conversation.

"Um…" She rubbed a hand over her face in frustration. She still had no clue what was going on, but her confusion was quickly morphing into anger. What in the world was Danny doing in _California _on a school day? She was going to _kill_ that boy when she got her hands on him. "I don't know anyone in California. I'll have to get a plane ticket-"

_"HEY MOM_!"

"Danny, she's on the phone, don't scream so loud."

"What are you, my mother?"

"Hey, Mrs. Fenton."

Maddie broke off, twisting around to stare at the three figures that had walked in through the back door. As Sam and Tucker raided the fridge for some cans of soda, Danny dropped his latest English test on top of her photos. "B-plus," he stated happily. "Told you."

Maddie just blinked, her bubble of anger bursting into confusion, and watched her son and his two friends tromp into the living room. "Uh…" She stared at the door to the living room, then down at the phone she was still holding. "Officer…"

"Grisby, Ma'am."

"Yes. My son just walked through the door."

This time, the confused silence came from the other side of the phone. "Are you sure, Ma'am?" he said slowly.

Maddie glared at the phone. "Crystal."

"Strange." The officer was silent for a moment, papers rustling in the background. "He matches the fingerprints, the picture, and the description."

"Well, he's obviously not my son. Maybe you should recheck your tests."

"Maybe…" He clicked his tongue. "Well, sorry for the interruption. We'll redo the tests and we'll get back to you. This sure is a strange situation."

"Yes," Maddie said a little waspishly, "it is."

"Have a nice rest of your day, Ma'am." The line clicked.

As the dial tone flooded out of the handset, Maddie shook her head, replaced the phone on the wall, and forgot all about it.

* * *

Three days later, the furthest thing from Maddie's mind was the odd phone call from San Francisco. She was busy enjoying her breakfast of toast and jam and reading the Saturday morning newspaper. There really wasn't anything interesting in it, but nobody else was awake yet – it was only nine o'clock – and it was a way to pass the time.

When the phone rang, it was a welcome distraction. "Fentonworks," she said into the phone, lodging it between her ear and her shoulder so her hands would be free, "Maddie speaking."

"Maddie Fenton? Mother of Daniel Fenton?"

"Yes…" Maddie hesitated, reaching up to take the phone in a hand.

"Sorry to bother you so early. My name is Janet; I work for the social services division of the Amity Park Police Department. A juvenile was transferred into my care last night from a different department and I'm doing some follow-up phone calls, double checking some of the facts." The woman laughed a little. "They're not making any sense."

Maddie relaxed a little when she realized nothing was wrong. "How can I help?"

Maddie could hear the grateful smile in the woman's voice when she talked. "It says here you received a call from the San Francisco Police Department a few days ago? About a teenager they thought was your son?"

"Yes." Maddie sank back down in her chair. "He's not my son though – Danny walked in the door as we were talking."

"And Danny doesn't have any identical twins or anything, does he?"

"No, he doesn't." Maddie shook her head. "What is all this about?"

The woman hesitated. "The juvenile that's in my care is the boy from San Francisco. We've run his fingerprints through the system seven times and come up with the same results each time. His fingerprints are an exact match for Daniel Fenton's." There was silence for a second. "Fingerprints aren't duplicated between people – they're unique for every person. The boy we've got here _is_ Daniel Fenton. Are you sure…"

"Yes," Maddie said sharply. "I'm sure that's not my son."

For a few beats, Maddie could hear papers rustling in the background. "I know it's a bit to ask, but would it be possible for you to come in and see him?"

"He's not my son!" Maddie said. "Why would I want to come in and see him?"

The woman sounded frustrated on the phone. "I need to figure out who he is and all the evidence I've got points to him being your son. He's refusing to talk to anyone to explain why he was trying to sneak into the White facility in San Francisco and I thought that maybe, just maybe, you showing up would get something out of him. If nothing else, you could see him and make a visual claim that he'd definitely not your son."

Maddie ran a hand through her hair. She really didn't want to go talk to them, but it would get them to stop calling and thinking that her son was in their custody. "Fine," she said after a moment, sighing.

"Excellent!" the woman said. "I'm here until four o'clock today if you want to stop by. It won't take more than fifteen minutes of your time."

"Excellent," Maddie repeated softly and hung up the phone. Shaking her head slowly, she sat back down at the kitchen table to finish her toast. She tried not to think it, but a thought germinated in her head anyways. Setting her plate in the kitchen sink, she headed upstairs and paused at her son's door. Slowly pushing it open, she glanced in at Danny. This was her son… right?

* * *

It was a little after eleven thirty when Maddie pushed open the door leading to the social services office. "Hi," she said to the desk clerk, "I'm looking for a Janet? She wanted me to come in and talk about some boy from San Francisco."

The man behind the desk grinned. He pointed to the door to his left and said, "Go on in. She's waiting for you."

"Thanks," Maddie smiled, hitched her bag up higher on her shoulder, and stepped through the door.

The woman sitting behind the desk looked up, brushing her black hair out of her eyes. "Maddie Fenton?" she asked with a small smile.

Maddie nodded and looked around the room. Her gaze fell on a figure sitting in one of the corners and she froze. Messy black hair, sapphire blue eyes, ragged blue jeans… "Woah," she breathed, her eyes wide. Her son – or some incredibly close copy of her son – was slouched in one of the chairs.

"You see the dilemma," Janet said simply, gesturing towards the sulking boy in the corner. "He _matches_ the picture. He _matches_ the fingerprints. We'd do a DNA test, but we're pretty sure he'd match that too. For all legal intents and purposes, we're looking at Daniel Fenton."

"But… my son is out with his friends…" Maddie said softly, unable to wrench her eyes away from the strange boy.

Janet sighed. "I hate to ask… but can you prove that?"

"Prove?"

"Can you prove that your son is somewhere else and not sitting in front of me." She put her arms up on her desk.

Maddie nodded. "I… can… call him," she said distractedly, not entirely sure what to think. The boy in the chair looked up and met her eyes, flinched, then wrapped his arms tighter around his chest and settled lower in his chair.

"Could you get him to come in? Maybe redo his fingerprints for us? I mean, it's always possible that something just got mixed up in the system during input."

"Yeah." Maddie tore her eyes away from the Danny look-alike to dig through her bag for the cell phone Danny insisted she carry with her.

"You're causing me nothing but headaches, kid," Janet said to the boy in the corner.

The boy shrugged. "You _could_ just let me go."

Maddie closed her eyes, a shiver running down her spine. She would have bet her right kidney if someone asked her if her son was speaking. How was it possible for them to be so close?

"You got a parent or guardian I can call?" Janet asked.

With a sigh, the boy shook his head and went back to moodily staring out the window.

Maddie's fingers finally closed around her cell phone and she took a deep breath. It was time to call her son.

* * *

An hour later, Danny was seated in a chair right next to his look-alike, both of them shooting strange looks at each other. Maddie's head was spinning in circles, looking from one to the other. The longer she sat and watched them, the more differences she could see. Physically, they were practically identical; the other Danny was a little skinnier, her Danny a little more tanned.

It was their mannerisms that gave them away. Her Danny was nervously tapping his foot and occasionally rubbing the back of his neck. The other Danny was slouched in his chair and picking at his fingers, his feet hooked around the legs of his chair and, other than his fingers, staying almost perfectly still. Her Danny kept looking up at her to see how she was taking all of this. The other Danny kept looking out the window.

"Well, this is the icing on the cake," Janet said angrily as she walked into the room and dropped two folders on the desk. "You two have the _exact_ same fingerprints. Daniel Fenton, meet Daniel Fenton."

A small smirk touched the lips of the other Danny for a moment before fading away. The two boys exchanged another unreadable look. Her Danny's eyes narrowed slightly.

Janet dropped into her chair and sighed. "Nobody seems to know what to do next. We have two boys in this office… and according to every legal mode of identification, they both belong to you, Maddie."

"I…" Maddie hesitated, shaking her head. "They're not _both_ mine!"

"I know," Janet said sourly. "Bosses words, verbatim: Legal mode of identification. They're both yours. The Amity Park PD 'officially' washes its hands of this."

"But…" Maddie stared at the woman. "But…"

Janet leaned forwards, resting her elbows on her desk. "The case file will stay open and we'll have some people stopping by to see if they can figure out what's going on." She shrugged and sent Maddie a small smile. "If this was a bigger city, we'd have more options. But here, in Amity Park… He's yours."

Maddie looked from one boy to the other, confused and frustrated. "But…"

A knock at the door caught everyone's attention. "Janet?" the clerk said, sending both women a grin. "That man from Chicago is here to see you."

With a grin, Janet pressed her hands against her desk and pushed herself to her feet. "Well, I've got to go. We'll call you to set up some appointments, okay? I'm sure we'll get this figured out."

"But…" Maddie help up her hand as Janet brushed past her and vanished out the door. She stared at the swinging door for a moment, then back to the two boys. "But there's two of them…"

* * *

**A/N:** First off, this is Cordria's exact one-shot--no changes except for the heading. I was inspired to continue this Nova-Shot in particular because of a picture by FeyPhantom. I don't know how to put up a link on this site, but on DeviantArt, it's the first picture to pop up when you type in "Danny Squared." I think it's sort of a fitting image for what I have planned for this story. Anyway, thanks to Cordria for letting me steal this one-shot. You can expect the next chapter to be up soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Mirror, Mirror**

A Danny Phantom FanFiction

* * *

The car ride was long and terse. Maddie had the wheel in a death grip, her knuckles pure white. Her Danny sat shotgun, fiddling with the air conditioning, while the other Danny fell, sprawled over the expanse of the entire row of seats in the back. The car was completely silent.

Maddie cleared her throat and punched the control button for the air conditioning, turning it off even as her Danny was adjusting it. "So," she drawled, looking into the rear view mirror at the boy lying in the back of her car. "Would you like to tell me about yourself?"

The boy sat up to meet her eyes briefly in the mirror before looking away. He did not answer.

Maddie returned her gaze to the stretch of road leading into the city. "Will you at least tell me how you came by the police? Something about a facility in California?"

Out of her peripheral vision, she could see her Danny turn in his seat to face the boy in the backseat. They shared a long, unreadable look until it became clear that the other Danny was not going to speak. Her Danny sat back in his seat, crossing his arms as he looked out the window.

"Will you tell me anything?" Maddie said, more out of exasperation than with the expectation of receiving an answer.

It was a good thing, too, because she didn't receive one. The one-sided conversation came to a halt when Maddie pulled into the alley next to her house. She yanked the keys from the ignition and just sat, blinking at the boy in the rearview mirror. Her Danny didn't wait; he hopped out of the car mumbling something about "finding Jazz," leaving her alone with the other Danny. As soon as her Danny disappeared behind the corner of the FentonWorks building, he parted his lips to speak, surprising her.

"I'm hungry," he said, sending the woman a pitiful glance.

Maddie felt a chill run down her spine at his voice. If the boy in front of her gained even five pounds, she wasn't sure she'd be able to tell him apart from her own son. She turned in her seat to peer around the headrest. "You're talking, now?"

"They didn't give me food," the boy complained, holding his stomach in his pale hands.

"Well, then," the red headed woman sighed, "let's get you something to eat."

She slid out of the car and gave the door a rough shove behind her. The other Danny gracefully stepped out of the car and gave it a small push closed before joining Maddie's side. Together, they walked to the front door.

"I'll introduce you to the family," Maddie said, reaching for the doorknob. She swung the door open to reveal her Danny whispering quietly with Jazz in the foyer. They both clenched their jaws shut when they heard the door creak on its hinges and glanced at their mother and the boy standing next to her. Her Danny took a deep breath while Jazz looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Jazz, sweetie. This is…." Maddie turned to look at Danny next to her with a look of confusion. "We can't very well call you Danny, now, can we? Do you have a name?"

The other Danny glanced hesitantly at her Danny before giving her a sharp nod.

"Well, what is it?"

"My name," the boy whispered to her, "is Daniel."

Even as her own heart skipped a beat, Maddie did not miss her Danny's look of pure shock.

"I'm gonna set the table," he said weakly before turning on his heels and disappearing into the kitchen, dragging his wide-eyed sister with him.

"But that's just the name they gave you at the Police Department," Maddie told the Danny in front of her, rocking her weight onto one foot. "Do you have another name? A real name?"

The boy wordlessly shrugged and shook his head, glancing up at her with big familiar blue eyes. "It's the name I was born with. It's what he called me."

Maddie shook her head in disbelief. "Who? Who called you Daniel?"

The boy violently shook his head and looked away. "I'm hungry," he repeated.

Maddie wanted with all her heart to grab the boy's shoulders and shake the answer out of him, but couldn't find it in her to deny his request. "I'll have pasta ready in a few minutes," she replied, a heavy sigh underlying her words. "Why don't you help my—" She paused, licking her lips. "Why don't you help Danny set the table?"

He nodded and left her to her thoughts, exiting the foyer through the kitchen doorway. After collecting herself, she slowly followed him. She entered the kitchen to find Danny leaning on the counter, an odd expression plastered onto his face as he watched the other—_No,_ she firmly corrected herself, _not the other Danny. Daniel.—_as he watched Daniel set the table.

"Why are you letting our guest do all the work?" Maddie asked, crossing her arms.

Her son seemed to be startled out of his thoughts. He jumped to his full height and his baby blue eyes met her violet ones. "I was going to help you with the pasta."

"That's no excuse," she said sternly, tapping her fingers expectantly against her arm.

"It's okay."

Maddie's eyes widened a fraction when her son's voice reached her ears, but Danny's mouth hadn't moved.

She spun to see her son's lookalike set down the last fork. He stood erect and looked to her, his mouth still a straight line.

"It's already finished," he said.

Maddie offered him a small smile before shooting her son an annoyed glance. "Thank you, Daniel," she said. "Danny, get Jazz to help you find the spaghetti."

Her son looked between his sister, who was already searching for the stove lighter, and his mother. After sending a bitter glance towards his doppelganger, he spun on his heels.

When Danny wandered off in the general direction of the stove, Daniel spoke again, "Restroom?"

"Down the hall to the right," Maddie answered, all the while searching the boy's face for any hint of clarification of his mystery. He blinked at her and with a slight bow of his head, left the kitchen.

Maddie found herself feeling very unsettled. She stared at her son's back as he poured a box of uncooked spaghetti into a pot of water as his sister watched over him, speaking quietly into his ear. There was something about Daniel that struck odd chords within Maddie. Sitting down at the kitchen table, she watched as her son chuckled at something Jazz had said and realized that there was just something automatic about her new guest. Danny was laid back—free. There was something strangely mechanical about the way Daniel held himself in comparison. Something very refined, yet also very forced.

The red headed woman blinked when she heard the front door slam shut. All three Fentons jumped when they heard a yelp from the foyer. Maddie dashed to the source of the noise and found her newest guest squeezed in a bone-crushing hug.

Jack Fenton, his arms still weighed down by plastic bag handles, had just come home from the market. When he saw his wife he released the now-crippled boy and held his arms wide for her. "Sorry I'm late, Babycakes," he said at his usual loud volume, "they were having a sale on pork!"

While Maddie would have otherwise rolled her eyes and fallen into his welcoming hug, she couldn't stop her legs from freezing when she saw Daniel, who was brushing himself off. She heard her son's footsteps behind her and watched her husband's eyes first squint and then widen.

He bent his arm back to scratch his neck, but pulled out a small ecto-weapon from a hidden pocket and aimed it first at the boy behind her and then at the boy in front of him. "Ghost!"

Maddie found herself suddenly able to walk. She pulled on his arm and began dragging him to a different room. "Not a ghost. This is Daniel. Jack, honey, we need to talk," she called. "Jazz, why don't you find the spaghetti sauce? Danny, keep stirring!"

She watched silently as all three children left the foyer. Pulling her husband into the living room and, covering her face in both hands, she lamented, "Jack, I don't know what to do."

While Jack was a huge bumbling oaf, he knew just how to comfort his wife. He dropped onto the couch and pulled her down next to him. Holding her tight around the shoulders, he begged her with his eyes to continue. Peeking through her fingers at him, she sighed. Dropping her hands, she told Jack about her adventure to the social services department of the Amity Park Police Department.

"Wow," he said simply, rubbing the back of his neck and letting go of his wife to think.

"Adoption." Maddie turned to him her eyes full of worry. "I thought—if we can't find out where he came from—well, there's really no other option. We can't just get rid of him."

"But—" Jack caught himself, but Maddie already knew exactly what was on his mind.

"Exactly, Jack," she said, her voice thin and quiet. "I don't know if we can afford another child."

Jack's brows furrowed and, as his deep blue eyes closed, he rested his hand on his forehead. "What do we do?"

* * *

**A/N:** No, I'm no Cordria.... But I tried to make it as seamless as I could. I do pride myself on imitating writing styles, but it's hard when I'm imitating something so well written. Sorry this chapter is so short. Busy busy summer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Mirror, Mirror**

A Danny Phantom Fanfiction

* * *

Danny allowed himself to be shooed by his parents back into the kitchen with his sister, but as soon as the last hair on his father's head disappeared behind the wall, he rounded on his lookalike.

"Alright, game over," he said, gazing directly into Daniel's eyes. "I thought we had a truce."

Daniel stopped in his tracks and gave Danny an unreadable look. "A truce," he repeated blankly as if he didn't know whether to make it a question or a statement.

Danny crossed his arms. "I don't know what you're doing here, Amorpho, but it needs to end. Now."

"Amorpho?"

Daniel did look genuinely nonplussed, but Danny knew better. "You're a clone, then," he accused.

Daniel offered the accusing boy nothing more than a raised eyebrow. "Even if medical science was that sophisticated," he intoned, "what makes you think they'd clone a dumb teenager?"

Danny found himself at a loss for words. "Well…what else could you be?," he sputtered, giving Jazz—who was both intently listening and stirring the Spaghetti Sauce—a brief glance. "People don't just look the same. I mean—" Upon seeing Daniel's furrowed brows, Danny reconsidered saying anything further. "Oh, never mind."

Daniel frowned. "What were you going to say?" Danny didn't immediately answer, so the boy looked to Jazz. "What was he going to say?"

"Don't look at me," she said, calmly pulling out a ladle full of pasta to check if it was fully cooked. "I can't read his mind."

All three teenagers spun when they heard Jack's lumbering footsteps. Maddie popped her head around the wall right behind her husband with a clearly forced smile. "Jazz is the pasta cooked?"

Jazz nodded. "It's done, Mom."

Maddie approached her daughter, her smile slowly fading. "Thanks, honey. Go, sit. I'll serve."

Jack was the first to take a seat, at his usual spot at the head of the table. Danny and Jazz sat next to each other on one side, and Daniel sat alone on the other. Maddie found her chair at the other end of the table.

The meal was thick with tension. Jack couldn't help but send glances in between the two lookalike boys while Maddie couldn't keep her eyes away from Daniel. Jazz barely touched her food. Danny was busy slurping away at the noodles; Daniel twirled them neatly around his fork.

He ate hesitantly and his bites were sporadic, but somehow the boy managed to clear his plate faster than anyone else. When dinner was over, Maddie began to tell Daniel that she would clear his plate, but he denied her help and scraped his plate clean over the trash can and left it in the sink.

She watched the mysterious boy allow himself to be shown the upstairs by her own children before standing to scrape the leftovers into a small Tupperware bin. She washed Danny and Jazz's plates much slower than usual; reflections and thoughts spun through her head at incredible speed.

---

Upstairs at the foot of his own bed, Danny grudgingly opened the cot that had been lying useless in the back of his closet for years. It was already lined with dusty white sheets. The only thing missing was the similarly dusty pillow which Danny dug for through piles of old junk accumulated over the years.

"Here's the pillow," he said unenthusiastically, dropping a saggy, deflated pillow onto the cot. Turning from the boy, he recited, "Extra toothbrushes are in the bathroom. Soap's there, too." Halting at the door, he twisted back to see Daniel gazing at him with no expression at all, his face blank and free of expectation.

"Just don't…." Danny hesitated, considering stopping mid-sentence. There was something passive about Daniel that made it hard for Danny to hold any animosity towards his lookalike. But he finished his sentence anyway. "Don't try anything."

He left without looking back, leaving Daniel alone in his own room. Danny shrugged away the annoying paranoid feeling and made his way to his sister's room.

"Jazz?" he called, knocking on the door.

Jazz opened the door on the third knock and Danny blinked up at her. Even though the night was growing darker, she still had her school clothes on. She gazed at him with uncertainty. "Yes?"

"I just want to…." Even though his need to talk with someone was great, Danny was still apprehensive about his listener being Jazz, the resident self-proclaimed psychologist. "I just wanted to talk with you about--"

"I was waiting for you to ask!" she said and pulled him inside her room. Shoving him down into her desk chair, she said, "I knew you'd be having a hard time with this."

"Who said I was having a hard time?" her brother asked.

"No one said anything, but for one, he is an exact replica of Danny Fenton…," she trailed off, falling back onto her bed. "And you don't know anything about him."

"It's not just that," Danny admitted reluctantly. "What are my friends going to say?"

"What friends?" she said without missing a beat. "Sam and Tucker?"

"And Val," Danny added ignoring her barely veiled criticism of his social life.

"Well," Jazz sighed, "I can't say anything about Valerie, but Danny, Sam and Tucker are there to help you." She gave her brother a smile, but it faded when she caught sight of the clock. "It's getting late. You should go to bed."

"Okay, mother," the dark haired boy sighed, rolling his eyes.

As he stood, Jazz felt the burden of the older sibling. She couldn't stand it when her brother was upset. "If it makes you feel any better," she added as Danny walked towards the door, "I really don't think he's here to hurt you. I think he's just as confused as you are."

Danny gave her a questioning glance. "How can you tell?"

She gazed back at him solemnly. "I can't. But the least you can do is give him a chance."

--

At Casper High the next day, Danny nervously stood by his locker. Daniel leaned motionless against the wall, gazing down the hallway boredly. "I have to stay here all day with you?"

"Hey, listen, buddy," Danny said, the anxiety of introducing his friends to Daniel momentarily replaced a slightly less passive emotion. "If I have to go to school, so does my clone."

Daniel rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "I'm not _your_ clone," he said with little feeling. "_You're_ mine."

"Yeah? I can tell you what happened all fourteen years of my life," Danny snapped. "Can you say the same?"

Daniel opened his mouth to snap right back, but he was spared from having to come up with an insulting reply when two strangers approached him with smiling faces.

"Hey Danny!" One of them, a short boy with heavy black rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, greeted with a small wave.

Danny spun, his nervousness back ten-fold upon seeing the two. At the sight of both boys, the other newcomer's dark purple lips turned down at the corners. "Whoa," was all she said. Turning to the boy she had arrived with she raised an eyebrow. "You don't see that every day."

"Danny, what are you doing, man?" the boy with the glasses asked Daniel urgently in a low whisper. "People are gonna see you!"

Daniel's brows furrowed in reply, but it was Danny who answered him. "I'm Danny." The two newcomers stood back to study them both as Danny continued. "Tuck, Sam, meet Daniel. Daniel," he sighed, waving a hand noncommittally towards his friends, "Sam and Tucker."

Sam's expression slowly became a mix of disbelief and confusion. "Are you going to explain to us why there are two of our best friend?"

"Um, well, see…," Danny trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say. He was saved, quite literally, by the bell. Danny followed his two friends to Mr. Lancer's classroom, dragging Daniel reluctantly behind him. The two lookalike boys found seats in the front row, avoiding all the incredulous stares they received from their classmates. Lancer, like always, began the class by handing out graded papers.

"Your pop quizzes are in," Lancer droned as he passed from desk to desk, sliding overturned papers onto his students' desks, "and I'm very disappointed." When he finally made his way to the front, he said, holding out the last quiz in his stack, he said pointedly, "Specifically in those who didn't study." When he reached Danny's desk he froze in hesitation, his eyes growing wide. "Great Expectations, Mr. Fenton!" he gasped. "There are two of you!"

Danny, never good at thinking fast on his feet, sat upright in his seat to tell his teacher, "This is my long lost…."

"Brother," Daniel supplied simply with a nod, drawing Lancer's attention towards himself. "We recently discovered we had been separated by birth when my legal guardian unfortunately passed away." Danny turned to give his doppelganger an amazed glance, but Daniel took no notice. Instead he extended a hand towards the plump teacher. "I don't believe I know your name," he recited as if he had been trained to do so.

Lancer took the boy's hand with a small frown. "As long as you're in school, you will call me Mr. Lancer."

"I'm Daniel," he replied with a firm shake of his hand.

"Interesting," Lancer said weakly, quickly releasing Daniel's hand. He moved on without looking back at two boys until he sat at his desk at the front of the room. "Today's class will be a continuation of yesterday's lecture." The class groaned in unison and Lancer ignored them. "Haikus are a very unique form of poetry…."

Danny hunched his shoulders forward, trying to ward off the stares he could feel boring into his back. He doodled absently on his note paper without looking up. He had almost finished drawing the arms on a three-eyed monster when a chill running up his spine caused him to gasp. Not a moment later, a huge tentacle crashed through the wall nearest the teacher, bringing the bricks tumbling down with a huge crash. There was a moment of shock before students all screamed together in panic. They ran towards the exit, Lancer quickly ushering them out of the door.

Danny found Daniel running with the rest of the classroom and pulled him back by the collar of his shirt. Daniel spun, giving Danny and his two friends, who were standing right behind him, a look of terror.

"Let go!" He tried to raise his voice above the screaming. "We have to get out of here!"

Danny almost let go of the boy, shocked. Either Daniel didn't know anything about ghosts or he was just trying to throw him off. Either way, Danny wanted to make sure he stayed safe. "Stay with Sam and Tuck!" Danny had to yell to be heard above the chaos. "They'll tell you what to do!"

"What about you?" came the reply.

Danny paused to come up with a plausible response. "I'm going to go get help!" With that, he dashed away towards the courtyard door, leaving his lookalike with his two best friends.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry about the OOC-ness of last chapter! I hope this chapter is more in character. I dunno, I had just figured that since the Fentons can't be earning much from their profession and they live in a large house in the middle of a decent sized city where taxes have to be high, another child--especially one that didn't come with belongings/clothes except the ones on his back--would seem like a big, plausible problem. I also was trying to go for two stories in one: the tales of Jack and Maddie trying to manage their family and the adventures of Danny and his new "twin brother." So sorry that it didn't seem in character! Okay, gotta run--I'm supposed to be working... Thanks so much for the encouragement and reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

**Mirror, Mirror**

A Danny Phantom FanFiction

* * *

Danny dove into the classroom closet and, in a flash of light, disappeared through the ceiling. A huge, green monster ghost was thrashing around the library courtyard, growling and smashing through walls. It had no definitive shape; it was simply a large, goopy, gelatin-mold ghost flailing four oversized tentacles through the air. When it spotted Danny with its single eye, it bellowed an ear-splitting cry. Danny only groaned, annoyed.

After delivering a series of useless punches and kicks to its midsection, the ghost boy decided it would be easier to just suck up the monster in the thermos without a fight.

"Hope you fit," he said, pulling the thermos from behind his back and aiming at the monster ghost.

As it charged up to vacuum him in, the ghost slammed Danny in the side with a large tentacle. Danny yelped and fell to the ground, scraping the entire side of his body on asphalt, the s clattering noisily to the ground a few feet away from him.

"You're toast, ghost!" an all-too-familiar voice cut through the monster's noises.

Danny couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes. "Oh, just what I needed," he intoned, staring up at the red huntress as he pushed himself to his feet. "Hope you're here to do more than come up with clever rhymes!"

The girl glanced over the edge of her hover board to find Danny Phantom, thermos in hand, approaching from below. "You!" she gasped, her brows furrowing together under the plastic of her helmet. "Oh, I'm here for more than clever rhymes, all right, Ghost Kid, but you're just gonna have to wait your turn!"

She spun without warning and delivered a blast to the monster's face, and it reeled back with a roar. Valerie gasped when she suddenly found herself ensnared within the grasp of one of the monster's tentacles. Her arms pinned to her sides, she struggled, grunting in exertion, but to no avail.

Danny chuckled, taking one last look at Valerie before blasting the tentacle that bound her. It released its hold on the girl instantly.

"Now that's what I'd call calamari!" Danny Phantom laughed without wasting any more time. He sucked the monster up into the thermos without a second thought.

Valerie fell through the air with a cry, righting herself on her hover board barely five feet from the ground. She twirled, her gun aimed in front of her, searching for the ghost boy. He was nowhere to be found.

--

Under a tree nearby, Danny was able to find his friends. He inconspicuously became human once more behind the tree before rounding its trunk. Sam and Tucker were laughing loudly, gasping for breath. Daniel stood next to them, a smirk on his face.

"Hey, guys, what's so funny?" Danny asked. They turned, surprised to see their friend back so early.

"Dude, Danny!" Tucker said, clapping Daniel on the back. "You didn't tell us he was funny!"

"He's funny?" Danny echoed, glancing at his lookalike.

Sam placed a consoling hand on her best friend's shoulder. "Consider yourself sorely outclassed in the joke department."

"I'm funny!" Danny said, crossing his arms.

"Man," Daniel interrupted them all, his eyes wide. "Did you see that flying ghost kid, though?"

"Oh…." Danny massaged his shoulder nervously. "Yeah."

"He was crazy!"

Danny cracked a smile. "I guess he is kinda cool. Right, guys?" He peered at his two friends.

Sam coughed to cover up a snort of laugher, while Tucker said, "Yeah, he's cool."

"I dunno…." Sam said from behind a smile. "He's always wreaking havoc." She punched the air with both fists for emphasis.

Danny had nothing more to offer her than a sarcastic glare. Daniel, however, couldn't contain his excitement. "I don't think that's purely his fault; I think its just residual damage."

"You know what, Daniel?" Sam said, slinging both arms around the two lookalike boys. She was smiling at Daniel. "I like you. You're alright."

Daniel blushed; Danny frowned. "Is anyone else hungry?" he said rubbing his growling stomach.

"I'm up for a Nasty Burger," Tucker said.

Sam nodded. "I'm getting kind of hungry, too."

"I don't think," Danny said, suggestively looking around, "class is going to be continued, anyway."

Students sporadically littered the schoolyard and the nearby road. Mr. Lancer was nowhere to be seen, and the only person taking authority was Mr. Faluca, who was flipping through the ghost emergency clipboard, clearly distressed.

Sam nodded. "I think you're right."

--

Danny ordered a Nasty Burger and Shake combo, Tucker a Double Nasty Burger and Fries. Sam ordered a Nasty Tofu Shake, and Daniel ordered nothing.

"You're sure?" Sam asked, after a sip of her shake.

Daniel nodded, shifting on the red and white vinyl seats. "Yes."

"I could pay if you need money, dude," Tucker said.

"No, I'm just not that hungry." Daniel almost looked disgusted by the food his new friends consumed, but otherwise, his expression remained unreadable. "So…," he drawled when the conversation had given way to chewing. "Who was that ghost kid?"

Danny choked on his shake, annoyed that his doppelganger had brought up the ghost boy again for the fifth time. It was Sam who answered.  
"Oh, that's just Danny Phantom," she said, leaving it at that.

"But where does he come from?" Daniel's face was a mixture of expressions. "Why is he here?"

"Whoa," Tucker said, raising his hands in defense. "I think you should leave all the questions for the ghost experts."

Daniel shook his head. "Who?"

"The Fentons," Sam said.

Danny nodded. "My parents are _more_ than willing to answer any questions you have about the ghost boy." He paused. "Or you could ask Jazz."

"I'll ask," Daniel said, playing with the saltshaker.

"Hey, guys."

Sam, Tucker, Daniel, and Danny glanced up at the approaching figure.

"Oh, hey, Val," Danny said. "What's up?"

"Not much," she sighed. "Just about to clock in."

"Want to sit with us?" Danny shot her a friendly smile.

"I guess…," she said. "My shift starts in five, though."

"School cancelled?" Tucker said.

"Yeah. Not that it matters much. After an attack like that," Valerie said, "they can't expect anyone to stay."

Sam was intrigued. "I wasn't watching; how bad is it?"

"The school?" Valerie waited for Sam to nod. "I'd say we have at least a couple of days off."

Danny sighed, relieved. "I could really use a break right about now, anyway."

Tucker grinned. "Who's up for a celebratory game of Doom?"

--

That night, Danny, Daniel, and Jazz ate without Maddie and Jack.

"They're what?" Danny said absently as he opened the fridge door in search of an easy dinner.

"Cleaning up the school." Jazz was also very distracted. She was sitting at the kitchen table, her homework spread all over the surface. Looking up at her brother, she said, "It's Dad's fault. They wouldn't have been enlisted to fix the damage if he hadn't blasted a hole through a supporting wall."

"Remind me again," Danny said, pulling a soda and jar of jelly out of the fridge. "When was that?"

"About ten minutes after the fight was over," Jazz said. She dropped her pencil. "Leave it to our parents to arrive _after_ the ghost is captured and destroy what's left of the school."

"How many problems are we supposed to do?"

Danny and Jazz spared a glance at Daniel, who sat on the opposite side of the table. Pencil in hand, he picked up the sheet for reference.

"Uh," Danny said, grabbing peanut butter and bread from the cabinet, "I don't know. I think five?"

Daniel gave his counterpart a dubious glare. "Are you sure that's what Mr. Lancer said?"

"Um…." Danny shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Look, who cares? You're new—Mr. Lancer won't count you off for not doing anything."

Jazz clicked her tongue. "Don't listen to him, Daniel," she said, shaking her head. "He's a bad influence when it comes to school."

"Oh, come on!" Danny threw his hands up in defense. "I did okay on the pop quiz!"

"Okay?" Daniel echoed. "I thought Mr. Lancer described it as 'disappointing.'"

Danny shut his mouth with an audible click of his teeth.

"What did you get?" Jazz inquired.

Danny shook his head. "I said I did okay."

Jazz crossed her arms. "What grade?"

Danny narrowed his eyes. "You're acting like Mom, Jazz!"

"I'm only looking out for your well being, Danny," Jazz said. Shaking her head again, she said, "What did you get? C? D?"

"A C," Danny said angrily.

"Minus," Daniel added, staring absently into space.

"A C minus?" Jazz echoed. "Danny, that's not 'okay!'"

"It's not failing," he argued. Looking out of the corner of his eye at Daniel, he muttered, "Thanks a lot."

Jazz huffed. "But it's not really _passing_, either!"

Danny turned away from her and started making his sandwich. He spread the peanut butter onto the bread and slapped on a spoonful of jelly. "'Passing' is relative, then," Danny said quietly. "It may not be 'passing' in your eyes, but the way _I_ look at it, if you're not failing, you're good."

Jazz only rolled her turquoise eyes in response. "Whatever, Danny."

"Uh," Daniel said, lacing his fingers together. "Danny, would it be okay if I called Sam?"

Put out of his good mood, Danny scowled at his lookalike. "What for?"

"She would know what problems are due, right?"

Danny suddenly took comfort in short, terse answers. "Probably."

Daniel looked at Danny expectantly, but when he didn't answer, he said, "What's her number?"

Taking a bite from his sandwich, Danny said in a muffled voice, "Just use the computer."

His doppelganger's face lit up. "You'll let me?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny turned away and stalked out of the room. It was Jazz who answered him.

"What he means is," she said, "yes, feel free."

--

Danny was already in his room when Daniel entered. He was laying on his bed, attempting his math homework. Daniel fell onto the desk chair and used the computer to call Sam. While it rang, started to click on the desktop icons. There was one, simply labeled "Files," that was particularly intriguing. His mouse hovered over it for a second before he double clicked it. Only a dialogue box popped up on the screen; it was password protected.

"Hello?" Sam's pixilated face slowly loaded onto the screen.

"Hey, Sam!" Daniel said, waving.

She squinted at her monitor. "Danny?"

There was an awkward moment where both boys looked up. Of course Sam couldn't see Danny lying on the bed behind Daniel, but their expressions were identical. "Uh, it's Daniel."

"Oh," she said. "What is it?"

Daniel laughed. "I just wanted to ask you what the homework was," he said.

"I think problems one through seven," she said, furrowing her brows. Her purple eyes searched the screen. "Where's Danny?"

"He's on the bed," Daniel said, moving slightly so she could see her friend behind him.

"Hey, Danny!" she said, waving.

Danny gave her a half-hearted wave back.

"Jazz yelled at him," Daniel explained, when Sam donned a confused expression.

"It's not that bad a grade," Danny muttered.

"What's not?" Sam asked. "Oh, the quiz? You probably could have done better."

"Oh great," he said, "not you, too."

"I mean, I guess you did have a lot on your plate that day," she said, "but you didn't even open the book when you got home."

Danny's face fell. "Yeah, but I just wasn't in the mood to study."

Sam shrugged. "I'm not going to berate you," she said. Her eyes flicked back to Daniel. "Well, if that's all, I'll see you guys at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Daniel said. "'Bye, Sam."

"'Bye."

The screen went blank.

* * *

**A/N:** Mostly filler and dialogue, but I liked this chapter. Thanks for all the encouraging reviews! I certainly have a lot to think about with this fingerprint business. I wouldn't have caught it if it hadn't been pointed out. Oh, I can't wait to make this story darker....:)


End file.
